Like Breathing in Sulfur
by awesomexxxadrienne
Summary: There was one thing that the PJO Series left out about Luke turning into Kronos and Kronos taking over his body: The actual process. Oneshot. Please read and review! xD


Preface

…The song _Sulfur_ by Slipknot randomly ran through my mind. Its chorus described what was happening and how I felt, perfectly...

_STAY! You don't always know where you stand. 'Til you know that you won't run away! There's something inside me that feels… Like, breathing in sulfur!_

I swallowed and got ready for the worst part, for we had only begun.

I shuddered in fear.

* * *

Like Breathing in Sulfur

This scared the hell out of me. I was shaking so hard, that some of the snake women guarding the entrance glanced at me kind of concerned yet scared. Always scared.

Good. Let them be afraid. It'll be practice for the future. I had the sudden urge to smile at them evilly but Kronos' voice prenetrated my thoughts and had me shaking even harder.

_Castellan. Are you positive? It still isn't too late for you to chicken out and run back to your precious little camp, you know. _He laughed when my face tightened.

"I'm positive, my lord." I said, teeth gritted, as the tremors ran up and down my spine. I tried to ignore the constant tidal wave of fear overshadowing everything in my mind. I had to do this. There is no choice. It reminded me of a line from this song called Sulfur-..._Take it or leave it - or DIE!-_

Huh. Who would of thought that Slipknot's really accruate?

_Castellan!_ Kronos shrieked in my mind. _FOCUS!_

I bowed my head and tried to make my mind go blank, intent on listening. I get distracted too easily.

"I'm sorry, my Lord." I muttered.

_You know what is to be done, I can hope?_

"Yes, my Lord."

_Well, then, we must get on with it. I grow weaker by the hour. Even the new recruits' pledges aren't enough for me. The power deterioates all too quickly and you know I can't hold on to conscious-ness forever. I need you, Luke. Believe it or not, you are the difference in whether or not the gods prevail or finally secede from _my_ rightful place in power. It all depends on whether or not you join my forces _fully_, Luke. You are the most important piece in this game. The silly _prophecy_ evens says so!_

"I thought you wanted nothing to do with those silly prophecies, my Lord." I smiled, my head still bowed as I stared at the ornate, tile floor.

_I don't, Castellan._ He hissed, annoyed. My smile faded. _And that's__ not the point. I-_

"LUKE!" Someone yelled at the entrance. I growled through my teeth and screamed, "WHAT?!" I turned around about ready to kill.

"We found a half-blood." Kathy said through her curtain of dark hair, looking scared of my murderous expression. My face softened. I made a point of that showing.

"Where is he?" I asked. I felt Kronos grow impatient. The temperature dropped slightly. Only I could feel it. Annoyance and impatience radiated from his golden coffin behind me.

"We knocked him out and threw him in one of the rooms." She said it all matter-of-factly that it was almost funny to see her roll her eyes afterward.

_CASTELLAN!_ Kronos yelled in my mind. It wasn't mad or annoyed, though. It was more like pleading which was kind of odd.

"Kathy, I can't really deal with this right now. Figure it out yourselves and leave me alone for once!" It came out harshly. More harsh than I had wanted it to and Kathy cringed before bowing awkwardly and running out of the room. The snake women watched her go and then they stared at me awkwardly. "You too! BOTH OF YOU GET OUT!" They jumped up and slithered/walked away. I sighed, mad, and turned back to the coffin.

"Kronos. If we're gonna do this, let's just get it over with. Please." I said, calming down immediately because I knew that what Kronos had in store was nothing compared to some lazy, clueless recruits. I swallowed as a hard tremor inched its way up my back.

_Very well, Luke. Are you ready?_

No..."Yes, my Lord." I closed my eyes and got ready for anything.

_Repeat after me. 'My Lord, Kronos-'_

"My Lord Kronos-"

_'I pledge myself to you. I allow you entrance and give you complete control.'_

"I pledge myself to you. I allow you entrance and give you complete control." My voice broke with the last word but I waited, scared to death. All my anger, gone and replaced with fear. Every cell in my body screamed for resistance. I gave them none. I kept my eyes closed and waited for the rest of the lines I knew by rote memorization.

_'I give you life and am willing to take for you.' _

"I give you life and am willing to take for you."

_'Take form, Lord of Time.'_

"Take form, Lord of Time."

As I muttered the last part, Kronos began a sort of distant chant in the back of my mind. It sounded like magic. I knew this was coming. My breathing accelerated and my muscles tightened and froze in place as I waited, once again, for anything-

Then, something hit me.

It felt like a charged rod of electricity being shoved through my body. It burned. My insides sizzled and ached. My mind was hazy and I couldn't really think, which scared me more than the pain. All I knew was that it felt like being burned alive. I scrambled back a few steps when my vision blurred. I could still hear Kronos' echoed and distant words being muttered somewhere in the depths of my mind. I couldn't hold my head up. The walls around me seemed to shift and tilt to one side. Then I was falling. Something hard hit the side of my body. My head hit concrete-something. I couldn't move. I felt myself shaking again. Only harder. My teeth were chattering and my jaw hurt. I couldn't stop. I tried to swallow. My throat burst into flames. It felt like an acid cloud was raining on my throat. The cloud itself was also there, trying to choke me; it was succeeding.

I couldn't breathe. I groaned and that made it worse. A sudden pain began at the pit of my stomach; gnawing on all the fear that had built up in there before. It made the fear recede and can you guess where it went? Right up my burning throat.

I heard an ear-piercing shriek and Kronos' voice, which was just a low, almost-_soothing_ buzz in the background. I was shaking so hard. Too hard. I didn't even feel myself anymore. The pain was all gone but I felt the edges of my consciousness slipping away. I tried to hang on to it, refusing to let it go. Another scream sounded through everything that was happening to me. It hurt my ears. I was breathing hard; I knew because I could hear it. Not feel it. Hear it.

I briefly imagined what I would look like there on the floor trembling. I probably looked possessed.

That's what it felt like. I didn't feel like myself. It felt like... like, someone was taking over. I fought over myself for control. I was failing. It felt like... like, someone was pushing me out of my own body. My mind was going blank. It freaked me out. I... I tried to resist, whatever it was that was taking me over. But I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I could barely think about thinking. Kronos' voice was the only sound. The only sane sound I heard through all the chaos. His voice was rhythmic and soothing. It wasn't long before my mind went blank completely. I gave up trying to do anything after a while and let myself be taken over. I wasn't myself anymore. I wasn't_ in_ myself anymore. Where was Luke? I had no idea.

Then, I was buried. Buried under blackness and the voice of magic. My mind and body were no longer mine. I was submerged beneath something too large for me to understand; to even imagine. I was lost; submerged beneath my own mind - and someone else's.

I never resurfaced.


End file.
